THE CARETAKER
June 2, 2012
Misfits converge in Christopher Morahan’s straightforward direction of Harold Pinter’s stark “The Caretaker.” Presented by Theatre Royal Bath/Liverpool Everyman the cast features Jonathan Pryce, Alan Cox and Alex Hassell at the BAM Harvey Theater.
Down-- but not giving up, the homeless Davies is invited into the dingy home of a very organized but odd man Aston (Alan Cox). Why Aston would open his house to such a vagabond is never made clear. Guided by a set, daily routine that never wavers, Aston’s well-charted day is disrupted by the fast-talking and surprisingly demanding Davies. But that’s not the greatest mystery in the play, Mick (Alex Hassel)—supposedly Aston’s hotheaded,tautly physical brother—slams into the apartment concocting harebrained schemes with Davies that add another layer of subdued violence to the action.
Power within the trio shifts, but nothing remarkable ever materializes. All three maneuver effectively through their odd characters, in a production that teeters on the edge of magnified realism.
EYE ON THE ARTS, NY -- Celia Ipiotis
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